It is hard to believe
that the two miniature species of yellow Corydalis (click to see) that we commonly encounter in the Four Corners area are
related to the giant at left. But they are. Corydalis caseana subspecies brandegeei
grows from three to six feet tall, dies back in the fall, and starts its
rapid growth again soon after snow-melt. Flowers are about
three-quarters of an inch long and vary from white to pink.

When Corydalis
caseana finds its ideal high mountain/subalpine wet habitat, it can grow in abundance, as the photograph above indicates.

Asa Gray named Corydalis
caseana in 1874 and there are now eight recognized subspecies that
grow from northern California into Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and
Utah. The subspecies are geographical isolated one from the other,
but Idaho has three subspecies. The subspecies brandegeei is
found only in nine southwestern Colorado counties and Rio Arriba County in
New Mexico.

"Caseana" is
for Professor E. L. Case of California, and "brandegeei" is for Townshend
Brandegee who was the botanist on the first Southwest Colorado
explorations of the Hayden Survey in 1875. Brandegee found the
Colorado subspecies growing in the "Piedra Mountains, 10,000 feet
altitude". (Quotation from Brandegee's report for the Hayden
Survey.) (More
biographical information about Case and more about Brandegee.)

Professor Joan Maloof
of Salisbury University has studied Colorado's Corydalis caseana subspecies brandegeei since 1996 after she noticed that bees were
biting through the rear of the flower to extract nectar. She
wondered if these plants are rare because the bees were decreasing their
reproductive capacity. Her research has shown that Corydalis
caseana depends on pollinators which are not driven away by
the "robber bees", and that although the robber bees tear
through most flowers, they are not interfering with the plant's
reproductive capacities. (Information taken from the Salisbury
University On-line
Newsletter of 2002 -- unfortunately no longer available.)

Both photos at left show fresh flowers, dying flowers, and young green seed pods.

Species present in state and nativeSpecies present in state and exoticSpecies not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rareSpecies present and rareSpecies extirpated (historic)Species extinctSpecies noxiousSpecies exotic and presentNative species, but adventive in stateEradicatedQuestionable presence